How to get eggs ready for the incubator

[Skittlez]

I just ordered my daughter an incubator and will be collecting my eggs to get them ready for when it comes. I know to store them point side down and will be keeping them in the house. I keep my house cool at about 66-68 degrees. Will this be a good temp? How many times do I turn them in storage? How many days should they be in storage until they can go in the bator? I have been reading on here for a few months now and feel pretty confidant about everything else, but not much has been found about collecting and storage.

I have 2 hens and 1 rooster, so I only get 1 or 2 eggs a day. I don't plan on hatching a huge amount. Maybe around a dozen for the first hatch. I just didn't want the eggs to be too old before they go in the bator.

Any advise will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

 

[NYREDS]

I generally collect for a week before setting. You can go 10 days but beyond that & viability begins to drop off rapidly.
I turn them twice a day before setting if I remember & I keep mine in the basement which is about 55 degrees.
If you think about it though a hen might make a nest in a hay mow where it's 100+ during the day & 45 at night & the eggs still hatch. You can over obsess abot the whole thing & many people do.

 

[Skittlez]

Thank you NYREDS. Do I turn them end over end, or just rotate them side to side? My RIR hen is sitting in the box longer than usual, but she stays out too much to be brooding, so I have been taking her eggs. I thought about leaving her some, but my rooster is still sleeping in her box with her at night and don't want them all broken.

My roo is a bad boy and may be going bye bye soon, so I wanted to try incubating. Hopefully some of the chicks in the booder will give me a NICE rooster.

We have 10 polish, 6 mix bag batams, 2 RIR, 2 WR, and 2 either Austrolorp (sp?) or BR all in the brooder now we just got last week.

 

[NYREDS]

Put them in an egg carton & raise first one end then the other. Saves actually having to handle each egg over & over-reduces the chance off dropping them. [if you're as clumsey as I am]

 

[Skittlez]

Ahh, I got it. Thanks!!